Defending Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants, welcomed one of their division rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, to MetLife Stadium to kickoff the 2012 NFL season.

Unfortunately, the Giants did not look as good as they did last time they faced the Cowboys in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

In an early defensive gridlock, the Giants took the lead in the 2nd quarter thanks to a Lawrence Tynes 22 yard field goal. Their lead did not last long: two drives later, from their own 22 yard line, the Dallas Cowboys marched right down the field. On 2nd and 5, at the Giants 10 yard line, Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo found wide receiver Kevin Ogletree for a 10 yard touchdown to help retake the lead 7-3.

Dallas started the 2nd half right where they left off. On their first drive, once again Romo connected with Ogletree for a 40 yard touchdown to put the Cowboys up 14-3. Eli Manning and the New York Giants jumped right back into it on their first possession. Manning drove from his own 11 yard line to the Cowboys 10, where Ahmad Bradshaw punched in a 10 yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 4 points. Dallas extended their lead back to 7, toward the end of the 3rd quarter with a Dan Bailey 33 yard field goal.

Dallas extended the lead even further after the Giants failed to drive down the field and were forced to punt. Starting at their own 18, running back DeMarco Murray started picking apart the Giants defense with his quick and explosive runs. At the Giants own 34 yard line, Romo was quick to realize the defensive mismatch, and connected with wideout Miles Austin for a touchdown.

With little time left, and down by 14, the Giants converted two key 4th down attempts to stay in the game. At the Cowboys own 9 yard line, Manning dropped back and connected with ex Cowboy Martellus Bennet. However, it just was not enough after Dallas converted on 3rd and 10. Romo kneeled the Cowboys to a 24-17 victory.

Romo finished the game with 307 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception, and a quarterback rating of 129.5. In what is going to be a pressure-filled season for Romo, he certainly did not let it effect him week 1. As for Dallas’ run game, Murray averaged 6.6 yards per carry and rushed for 131 yards. Ogletree led all receivers with 8 receptions for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was evident that Romo took advantage of the Giants banged up secondary.

Defensively for the Cowboys,  linebacker Sean Lee stole the show and had 12 tackles as well as one forced fumble. In addition, defensive menace DeMarcus Ware hit the 100 sack milestone and is the 28th player in NFL history to do so after his 5 tackles and two sacks against the Giants.

As for the Giants, Manning finished the game off with 213 yards and one touchdown. Bradshaw led the giants in rushing, compiling 78 yards on the ground and on touchdown. As for their receiving core, Victor Cruz led all Giants receivers with 6 receptions and 58 yards. Cruz could have easily bumped his stat sheet but dropped a few passes.

The Giants have some serious concern regarding their secondary. An already injured battered secondary became worse after: Michael Coe got injured in the 2nd half. Coe was already replacing injured corner Prince Amukamara. The Giants had no choice but to put in 5th year defensive back Justin Tryon. If the Giants do not get healthy quickly, many teams will pick them apart via passing game.

Both the Cowboys and the Giants will be back in action Sunday, September 16. The Cowboys will be on the road against the Seattle Seahawks. As for the Giants, they are hoping to bounce back next week when they welcome the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to MetLife Stadium.

Image Courtesy of  New York Giants

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There is perhaps no other pass rusher in the modern era of the NFL who has managed to become as revered across the league as DeMarcus Ware. His numbers speak for themselves, as he has led the league in sacks twice in his career, and is on pace to lead the league in sacks once again this season. In 2008, this included the first 20 sack season since the year that Michael Strahan broke Mark Gastineau’s sack record, yet Ware still fell short in the Defensive Player of the Year voting to his fellow speed rusher James Harrison.

Admittedly, this did not make DeMarcus Ware a huge snub by any means, since despite Ware clearly being the superior pass rusher, Harrison’s numbers seemed to suggest that he was simply the more complete player. Most would have argued that James Harrison was a better force against the run who also thrived in pass coverage allowing Dick LeBeau’s zone blitzing scheme to function well. However, it is not as if Ware has ever been any slouch against the run, or in pass coverage, especially this season. The debate over who deserved the DPOTY Award in 2008 can be laid to rest by now, but when evaluating how deserving DeMarcus Ware is of the award, one should let it sink in that the man has yet to win it a single time thus far.

This is actually quite remarkable when considering not only that most have accepted D-Ware as the premier pass rusher in the NFL, but also when considering what his potential legacy may be. Parallels can easily be drawn between Ware and Hall of Fame pass rush specialist Lawrence Taylor. Most fans who are savvy enough about football history know that LT was highly regarded as not only the NFL’s best pass rusher during his time, but also someone who would go down as the most feared defensive player that the NFL had ever seen.

Lawrence Taylor is an example of a player who had such an impact that he single-handedly changed the way the game was played. One notable example is the 2-point stance that offensive tackles often employ on pass plays. What many do not know is that this stance was originally intended to remedy the effect of having to block such a quick pass rusher with an amazing first step off the ball like Lawrence Taylor. The other example worth noting is the use of TEs to assist offensive tackles in protection. Joe Gibbs having his TEs motion to whichever side Taylor was on is perhaps the most famous example of this, but any instance of a TE aligning across from the defense’s best pass rusher is, in fact, a remnant of the LT era of the NFL. Given these innovations, even those who have never witnessed Lawrence Taylor firsthand can easily see how great he truly was.

The innovations that Lawrence Taylor was able to cause with his play allow him to lay claim to an impact that DeMarcus Ware will never have an opportunity to achieve. For this reason, Ware may have to settle for his career being considered inferior to Taylor’s no matter how many sacks he is able to rack up, but one should at least take into account the context of their respective eras. Obviously, Ware cannot be blamed for his inability to change the game as much as Taylor did since Ware did not have the opportunity induce the changes that were already made. What makes this especially significant is when one considers the effect that this may have had on Ware’s production in comparison to LT’s.

Since the aforementioned innovations were initiated as a direct response to Lawrence Taylor, he therefore had the luxury of not dealing with them at the beginning of his career. DeMarcus Ware, on the other hand, has had to deal with offensive tackles employing a two-point stance, as well as Tight Ends assisting these offensive tackles in pass protection since the beginning of his career. With this in mind, it can be speculated that had Ware played during Taylor’s era, his production could have easily matched that of Taylor, along with the possibility that the same exact pass protection innovations would have been made in response to him instead.

While it may seem utterly pointless to speculate about the careers of two players if they had played at different times, the fact that DeMarcus Ware is arguably this generation’s version of Lawrence Taylor is a scary thought. Most importantly, it makes it all the more perplexing that Ware has still yet to be crowned as Defensive Player of the Year. Given that he is the second coming of Lawrence Taylor, it would be a crime to not give him the award any time soon. If DeMarcus Ware is to be rightfully given his long overdue Defensive Player of the Year Award, it may as well be this season in which he leads the league in sacks once again, while also succeeding in all dimensions of the game.

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With your team down by three with under two minutes left to go, who would you rather have leading your team down the field than Tom Brady? That’s exactly what happened in Sunday’s game as Brady stepped onto the field with only one thing on his mind; “You can’t not get the ball in the end zone.”

And Brady did just that, finding Aaron Hernandez in the endzone with 22 seconds left on the clock to give the Patriots a close win over the Dallas Cowboys and moving the team to 5-1 and back atop the AFC East with Buffalo losing.

This was Brady’s 32^nd comeback in games where the Patriots trailed or were tied in the fourth quarter, so it’s nothing new for Pats fans or the fans of teams playing them. The fact that he was able to do it against the fourth overall defense in the NFL, who had been stifling the Patriot offense all day, says something about Brady.

“When you’re playing against a quarterback like Tom Brady, he’s going to go down as one of the all-time greats,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “So you have to try to make it hard on him.”

Dallas did a good job all day of making things difficult for Brady as they had an extra week to prepare coming off a bye week. He was sacked three times, two by DeMarcus Ware who now has seven through five games, and picked off twice, but Brady turned it up on that last drive going 8 for 9 with 78 yards and the game winning score.

This wasn’t the best game for the Patriots as they had four turnovers, but they still found a way to pull out a victory. Brady finished 27 of 41 for 289 yards and two touchdowns.

Dallas fell to 2-3 behind an okay game from Tony Romo who was 27 of 41 for 317 yards 1 TD and 1 Int. The Cowboys broke the tie with 5:13 left and after a Patriots punt decided to run the ball three times, only gaining 5 yards and punted right back.

Welker, who entered the day as the leagues’ leading receiver, was held to 6 catches for 45 yards, but three of those catches came in that final drive none bigger than his last which put the ball at the 8 yard line. That’s when Brady found Hernandez in one on one coverage and zipped a pass to him for the winning score.

“This is probably, as a whole, one of our worst performances as an offense,” Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch said. “It’s times like this when we show what we’re made of — that last drive.”

All things aside the Patriots are right where they were expected to be, heading into their bye week at a 5-1 mark. Things don’t get easier for the Patriots after the bye though as they travel to Pittsburgh and then face the Giants at home.

Image Credit: AddyTsl / Shutterstock.com

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Espn recently took on the hard task of naming their top ten defensive players in the NFL.  Now I’m sure they came up with this list after months of research, watching film and talking to other players in the league; I’m sure that’s what they did.

I think any list of the best players in any sport needs to be done with the votes of other players in order to be a credible list.  With that being said, I’m not going to sit here and bash the list makers, the reporters or the sports writers who came up with the list; which unlike any black list, you as a player would love to be on.

I respect the voters and I would have loved to know the criteria used to determine who belongs and who doesn’t… but any list would be subject to ridicule and debate no matter what, so we must dig in ourselves and evaluate these players on the list.

The list is for the best overall defensive players in the NFL; not just focusing on any particular position…at the same time though, if you value linebackers, then they would automatically receive more votes in terms of impact over corners for example.

I have some problems with the list that I will talk about in depth later on.

However, I want to start by saying that I have no problem with the guy who holds the number one spot on that list, as I’m sure many fans in the league wouldn’t object either.

Troy Polamalu is arguably the best player in the NFL and the reigning defensive player of the year so it only makes sense that he tops the list.  Troy is a versatile, relentless playmaker who flies all over the field risking life and limbs for Pittsburgh and their fans, so he is there until he is dethroned next season.

The list continues with Demarcus Ware whose stats and toughness speak for themselves.  Followed by Darelle Revis who occupies Revis Island, which has been home to many unsuspecting visitors.  To me it’s somewhat hard to determine who among the two best corners belong higher on this list, Revis or Nnamdi Asomugha… yes, it took a while to spell that name correctly; but 7 is a good spot considering the injury issues he faced.

Patrick Willis and the man with the golden long hair Clay Mathews round out the top 5.  Great top 5 for some but I think Clay Matthews being this high speaks to a larger problem with the way the league is.  In a  3-4 scheme, Matthews rushes the passer almost relentlessly but not while being blocked by elite linemen; he faces tight ends and backs out the backfield and his effectiveness is more so a product of scheme and a lot of athleticism.  I believe a player like Mario Williams belongs higher on the list than Clay Matthews because he is a true D End with consistent numbers in this league; still at a very young age by the way.

Although I’m not a big James Harrison fan, his trophy several years ago can’t be overlooked…so as much as I despise in between players like Harrison and Mathews, his numbers and impact is undeniable.

Julius Peppers is a freak athletically and I’m not sure where he belongs on this list. Aside from replacing him with a player like Charles Woodson, maybe we should leave him where he is for right now.  The rest of the list being Ed Reed and teammate Haloti Ngata; two great players one being a future hall of fame inductee, so no problems on that end.

I do feel however that although Ray Lewis is nearing the end of his career and using his spare time to give us his opinions on crime and crime prevention, he as much as anybody belongs on the list of best defensive players;  after all, Ray Lewis is the epitome of great.

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